In 2009 I bought a 5-year bond issued by IFFIm – the International Finance Facility for Immunisation. I invested £5000 and received £5810 a few days ago (with accumulated interest). Not the best return on capital in history, but not … Continue reading
My friend Beth Rhyne (of Smart, CFI and Accion) recently posted a bizarre article on the CFI blog (i.e. on her blog) in which she pleads for money. The premise is that the infrastructure of the microfinance sector, by which … Continue reading
Private capital to microfinance is mostly channelled through gatekeepers (microfinance investment vehicles – MIVs). Some public capital also flows through these vehicles. On the micro scale the P2Ps (Kiva, MyC4 etc) act as more trivial gatekeepers for those wishing to … Continue reading
Another few million clients, new banks emerging daily, relentless spin without much evidence of poverty reduction: I thought I’d provide a light-hearted summary of what’s happened this year in the embattled microfinance sector. The best news is that the microfinance … Continue reading
I recently received a response to my blog-post “Doomsday”, which discussed a leaked document from Triple Jump and Incofin complaining about some of LAPO’s activities. The comment was from a group claiming to be students of LAPO. It’s as close … Continue reading
I have been fairly critical of Kiva, as some of my more sensitive readers may have detected. Another peer-to-peer (P2P) microfinance platform, MyC4, actually endorsed my book. I did a project for MyC4 some years ago, helping them with their … Continue reading
The list of confirmed speakers at the forthcoming Capital Markets Conference reads like a summary of the worst offending parties mentioned in my book. Perhaps not surprisingly, I was not invited to the conference, although I would have rather enjoyed … Continue reading
…. is probably how Triple Jump described the day the KRO-Reporter documentary came out. In fact the day I received the attached document (Triple Jump/Incofin letter to LAPO March 2010) was Doomsday. They now face questions in the Dutch parliament. … Continue reading
Perhaps unsurprisingly I rather enjoyed the KRO-Reporter documentary. I won’t go through it in detail, it speaks for itself. That something is deeply wrong in the sector is beyond dispute. Anyone who still denies this is living in cuckoo land. … Continue reading
Larry Reed’s recent press release took me by surprise and flooded my inbox. A fundamental shift has occurred in the sector. Support is emerging from all sides now. The Dutch microfinance investment sector is abuzz with the news as it … Continue reading
